ROME, Nov 7: The UN Special Representative for Afghanistan met former Afghan King Zahir Shah on Wednesday and said the world body believed the monarch could play a central role in the country’s future.

Lakhdar Brahimi, who is trying to help prepare a transition to a post-Taliban government in Afghanistan, also said the country was not yet ready for a possible role by a U.N. peacekeeping force.

“His majesty is willing to help very unselfishly. He does not want anything for himself,” Brahimi told reporters after holding talks with the king, who has lived in exile in Rome since 1973.

“He’s willing to help in the manner that is useful and acceptable by everyone. And we believe that he can play the role of being at the centre of the kind of arrangements that need to be made to take Afghanistan out of the divisions and the fractures that have affected Afghan society for very long,” he said.

Asked what role the king could play, Brahimi said:

“It will emerge as we go along, there is still a lot of discussion to have with a lot of Afghans. This is a fractured society,

“It is a place where there are two wars going on: a civil war and a bombing campaign that is not directed to the Afghan people but it is affecting the Afghan people. So, I think it is a bit too early for me to give more details.”

Brahimi added that there would be more details after a meeting of the U.N. Security Council this month.

Brahimi arrived in Rome from talks with President Mohammad Khatami in Iran, where he said the U.N. was considering post-conflict reconstruction in Afghanistan as well as increasing humanitarian assistance.—Reuters